BUSINESS BUZZ
Star Store’ s NEXT
Before 2022 gets into full swing, we should first acknowledge a milestone for the City of New Bedford which occurred in the fall of last year.
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ot least because heading into 2022 and beyond, it will be a key barometer of the city’s central position in the region’s creative economy. For many decades, Star Store defined downtown shopping and wove itself into the fabric of this community. Yet, just over 20 years ago, the physical structure at 715 Purchase Street assumed a new role – one of more profound consequence to the city and region. In 2001, the vacant former Star Store was transformed into the urban satellite campus of the UMass Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts, thereafter beloved anew as CVPA Star Store. As CVPA Star Store enters its third decade, its impact on the cultural landscape is being evaluated once again with an eye toward where it’s been – and where it’s going. Nothing less than CVPA Star Store 2.0 is being envisioned to build
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Star Store 2.0 will retain the core elements of what has made it successful, while embracing new fields of design study into the future. upon the solid legacy and achievements of the last twenty years even as the next twenty beckon. The goal, says CVPA Dean Lawrence Jenkens, is to maintain the downtown campus as a vital hub of artistic achievement for the region. Star Store 2.0 will retain the core elements of what has made it successful, while embracing new fields of design study into the future.
February 2022 | The South Coast Insider
ACT by Steven Froias
That means textiles will mix with virtual reality, and fine arts will brush up against gaming. Looking ahead, Jenkens and UMass Dartmouth see a CVPA Star Store that drives design in all its forms in the region, just as the first twenty years of the school helped drive arts and culture in New Bedford and for the South Coast region.
Growing up together
Around the time CVPA Star Store was established, New Bedford was at the beginning of the creative renaissance that captures the city’s imagination to this day. Within a span of several years, The New Bedford National Historic Whaling Park, the New Bedford Art Museum, and AHA! New Bedford all sprung to life in downtown New Bedford. “We all grew up together,” says AHA!
